Outsider
by Rainey-l3
Summary: Merciless. That's how Amu was trained and would always stay that way. Or so she thought. Until she met Ikuto. Now, Tadase chases Amu endlessly, seeking her power but endangers the people around her. Can she keep up with this mayhem? -Might quit-
1. Chapter 1

She was abnormal because of one event that had changed her life forever but he didn't care about that one aspect. In his eyes, she looked like a lost kitten waiting to be adopted. He gripped his umbrella tighter as the rain poured down. He reached out his hand and hoped for her to take it. She looked up from her small ball she had created and looked at the crazy man that stood before her. She unconsciously reached out for that gentle, warm hand but withdrew when their fingertips were millimeters apart.

"You're going to regret your decision." She warned him.

"To you maybe but I sure I'm making the right one." She was hesitant about taking the hand since no body had displayed such emotions for her. Everyone around her just looked down at her with pity in their eyes or thought of her as trash. It disgusted her how humans judged things at first glance but then again, she was part human too. Just not the same as the rest of them.

She warily reached her hand towards the man and accepted his invitation. His face brightened a little bit as he hauled the girl to her feet. She brushed herself off as the man held out his umbrella for her. She walked over to him and walked beside him as the rain continued to fall. Suddenly, the man came to a halt. She looked back at him because of his sudden stop.

"I forgot to ask, what's your name?" The girl was silent for a few moments before answering.

"I don't have one." The girl looked back at him with a blank expression.

"Then I'll just have to think of one for you, am I right?" He grinned at her. They began walking again under the gray sky.

"Just to let you know, my name's Ikuto. I work as a scientist at a laboratory in a rural area. We're going to drive there since it's quite far away from here." He opened the door to his convertible. The girl hopped in while Ikuto sat in the driver's seat. It was a long drive but Amu had her attention glued to the scenery that played before her. She stared out the car window as trees and pedestrians zoomed by. Amu hadn't seen much of the world since she usually sat in the same spot that Ikuto had found her before the _incident_ happened. She had felt something she had never felt before because Ikuto had even bothered to reach out his hand for her. It felt warm inside of her. She didn't know how to explain it because she had never felt this kind of emotion before. The car screeched as it came to a stop.

"We're here." Ikuto unfastened his seat belt and the girl mimicked his movements. He stepped out of his car and she did the same. The girl stared at the enormous house but it could've also been a mansion.

"I thought you said we were going to your laboratory."

"We are. The laboratory is inside my house. Follow me." Ikuto motioned her to follow and she obliged. They walked down the stone waved pathway and entered through a door with intricate looking designs engraved on it. The mansion looked even bigger inside. Ikuto took the girl's coat and hooked his own coat next to her on a rack.

"Ah." He thumped his hand on his palm. The girl looked at him questionably.

"I just thought of a name for you. How's 'Amu' sound?" The girl didn't know why but she felt like that name was just perfect. Considering the silence he received, Ikuto thought the name was no good.

"No, no! I think that name suits me fine."

"Really? That's great. Now, lets go get you an extra pair of clothes. I don't have any clothes for girl so you can borrow mine for now. Is that okay with you?" Amu nodded silently. Ikuto directed Amu to a room where she could change. He told her that she could use whatever she found in the closet and to leave her dirty clothes there for now. He closed the door behind him and went of to his lab.

Amu stripped herself of her clothes until she only had her undergarments on. She walked over to the long mirror that reflected herself. She looked at the scars that covered her body. She closed her eyes and the wounds started to disappear. She opened her eyes when she had finished healing. She sighed and then put a hand on the mirror. The reflection of her in the mirror touched the person that was reflected on the mirror yet the mirror was the only thing that blocked the two from completely touching.

_Why me? _

Amu pulled the closet door open and it revealed Ikuto's clothes. It mainly consisted of lab coats, white collar shirts and some jeans. Amu grabbed a random set of clothes and put them on. The problem was that they were two sizes too big so they looked baggy on her. Amu grabbed her dirty clothes and exited the room. Since she had no idea where Ikuto was, she started to explore the mansion. She walked around the long hallways and opened several doors. Most of them were filled with boxes and equipment that scientists would use. Amu stopped at one particular door. It had a sign hanging on the door frame that said "Do Not Enter". Amu was curious what was on the other side of the door so she opened the door a little to take a peek. She didn't suspect the door to make a loud screeching noise so when it did, Amu jumped back all startled as Ikuto rushed out the door. He sighed of relief.

"I thought you were a burglar. Anyways, come in Amu." Ikuto pushed the door open and waited for Amu to come in. Like a curious 5 year old kid, she cautiously walked in and was amazed by how much equipment was in the room. There were test tubes, microscopes, papers scattered all over the place and other things that Amu couldn't exactly identify. Ikuto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry, I forgot how messy it was. I'm sort of used to how messy this place is." Ikuto started to pick up some papers he left on the floor and started to clean up. Amu saw how intent he was on making the place look as clean as possible so she started to help him clean up. Amu gathered some papers she found on the floor and stacked the papers on a nearby desk. She looked at the desk that had all sorts of paper with different stuff written on them. She noticed a photo frame sitting at the corner of the desk and picked it up to look at it. It had a tall man that had blue hair just like Ikuto, a lady with a hat placed on her head and children that greatly resembled them. They were all smiling making it a picture that captured that special moment forever. Ikuto put the papers down on his desk and looked around for Amu. He saw that she was looking at his family photo. He walked over to her and looked over her shoulder.

"That's my family photo if you hadn't figured that out yet." Amu rapidly whipped her head as blades came out from her sleeves. Her eyes narrowed as she pushed Ikuto onto the floor. She placed the edge of the sword against his neck. Ikuto eyes were as calm as ever while it left Amu stunned. Amu quickly made her swords vanish and got off of Ikuto.

"Sorry. You startled me." Amu apologized. Amu gulped as she had to find a quick excuse to get out of the room as long as it was away from him. She carried on the conversation like nothing had happened.

"Don't worry about it."

"You said that this was your family photo?"

"Yea."

"Then who's this?" Amu pointed to a blonde girl that had extremely long pig tails. She had a beautiful shade of purple for her eyes. Ikuto's eyes softened a bit.

"She's my sister. Her name's Utau. She worked as a model just like my deceased mother but she just disappeared one day. I don't even know where she is now." Amu put the picture frame back down on his desk.

"Sorry. I didn't know."

"It's alright. Don't worry." There was an awkward silence between them. Ikuto ddecided to break it.

"So, you know how you summoned those swords earlier?"

"Yea."

"How come you could do that? I know that normal humans can't do that."

"But don't you think I'm a freak? Weren't you surprised I could even do that?" Ikuto thought about it for a moment and then answered.

"I wasn't really that surprised that you could do that because I didn't know anything about you so I could expect anything from you."

"I see."

"Now tell me how did you do that." Amu sighed.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Of course or I wouldn't be even asking you!"

"I'm basically a human weapon. I can turn my hands into any weapon I desire and can heal my wounds. So to sum it all up, I'm invincible." Ikuto whistled.

"What?" Ikuto leaned on his desk.

"Who would have known I would pick up a weapon from the streets. I really didn't suspect this." Amu looked down at her feet.

"So you don't want me?"

"I never said that."

Amu spun around and ran for the door, her hands trembling along the way. She opened the door and slammed it shut. Ikuto closed his eyes and ran his hand through his cobalt hair.

"Agh! We got off to a rough start." Amu walked down the never ending hallway and bursted into a random room and slammed the door shut. Her swords ripped through her sleeves without her intending to and she sliced the door into pieces. The door fell down into broken pieces. Amu was breathing heavily as she fell on her back on the hard floor. Amu closed her eyes to calm down.

_I almost killed him. I got to be more careful next time. Every time I let out my weapons, I have such intent to kill people! I turn into a totally different person! Damn the friggin' army! They just had to train me to make me end up like this. Damn it!_

* * *

_I could feel the blades in my hands slowly crawl out from my arms. I tried to force them back but they found their way through and shot through my sleeves._

"_Mom, Dad, Ami! Get out of here!"_

"_We won't leave you here Amu!" Mom called out._

"_Even if you escape from me, the military will come and get you! They've invaded the city! They already surrounded most of it! Escape while you can!"_

"_We won't leave you!" _

"_Hurry!" I yelled at them. I couldn't hold in the urge much longer. I shouldn't have escaped from the army to visit my family. Look at what I've caused. I jeopardized the whole city and the stinking army set the whole town on fire just to get to me! _

_My family hesitated on what to do at the moment._

"_Hurry up and run!" I screamed at them. We were in the midst of the fire and it was starting to heat up but it didn't bother me one bit. The problem was that my family was going to get toasted if they didn't leave at any second now and I couldn't hold the intent to kill them any longer. I ran up to them and drew my hand back. The sword slashed through all 3 of them like cheese. I kept on stabbing them until no more blood spilled. I wiped the blood that had gotten on my face and looked at it. I didn't even know what I was doing until I looked at my hands. I stared at the lifeless corpses. I covered my face with my bloody hands and belted out my sorrows. I could feel the warm tears fall down my cold cheeks. It left a pool of tears right below me. I couldn't believe I just killed my only family. It wasn't fair. Then, I heard a maniacal laugh come from behind. I stopped crying and my face turned sour. I knew that laugh anywhere. It was the General._

"_Tadase." The name seethed through my teeth like venom. I looked at my family and then glared at him. He suddenly started to clap._

"_Bravo. Such a great family reunion don't you think? Still as merciless as ever I see."_

"_Shut up! You're the one who did this to me! You fused me with the human weapon the army created but it went berserk! You had to find another vessel to contain it in and I was conveniently chosen! I wouldn't have killed my family today and they would still be alive if it wasn't for you! "_

"_So what? __I enjoyed every moment torturing you.__" He looked down at me with the eyes I despised. I ran up to him and tried to kill him with my swords but Nagihiko and Nadeshiko held me back. Yaya and Kukai were standing in front of Tadase to protect him from any harm while Rima was standing alongside him. _

"_Let go of me! I don't want to hurt you!" I struggled from their grasp to no avail._

"_We don't either but we don't have much of a choice." That sentence made me remember that I was the one that got them into this position and I hung my head in defeat. Tadase's couldn't help but smile in victory. He walked up to me and pulled my hair so that my head would face him. The pain so intense that it made me want to scream even more but I couldn't show him the pain I was going through. I didn't want to satisfy his desires. His face fell into a menacing glare when he didn't get the reaction he wanted. This time, he told Nadeshiko to let go of me and she obeyed. I was stepped on just as I made contact with the floor. I coughed as he dug his heel into my back. I kept on coughing but that wasn't the reaction he wanted. He pulled my hair back while stepping onto my back. I screamed as the pain was too much to bear. Yaya and Kukai winced as they watched me wither in pain while Rima kept her poker face on. Nadeshiko and Nagihiko looked the other way but stayed in their position. Tadase smiled and let go since he was satisfied._

"_Bring her with us. We're leaving this trash heap." Tadase left and Rima, Yaya and Kukai followed. Yaya and Kukai looked back at me. Yaya tried to smile at me while Kukai gave a wary thumbs up to try to cheer me up in his own way and they quickly resumed their positon. Nadeshiko and Nagihiko pulled me up arm by arm and they walked me in the direction Tadase was walking. They leaned in close to my ear and whispered._

"_I'm sorry Amu."_

"_We couldn't do anything to stop him. We're all sorry." I smiled a little because my friends still cared about me. Or at least that's what I thought. I quietly whispered back._

"_If you want to help me then I'm going to try to attack Tadase after 'accidently' elbowing you guys and I make a run for it after. How's that sound for repaying?" I looked at them and the siblings both looked at each other. They were probably both concerned about what would happen to them after this whole scheme but they wanted to help me right?_

"_Ok fine."_

"_Great." _

"_Hey! Hurry up back there or I might take your heads!" Tadase ordered Nadeshiko and Nagihiko to quicken their paste and they followed his orders. I hung my head and whispered to them._

"_Get ready." When I was placed a metre away from Tadase, Nadeshiko and Nagihiko's grip loosened and I broke free. I summoned a scythe and gripped it tightly. It was attached all the way to my shoulder and I could feel it creeping through my sleeve when it came out. I swung swung my scythe around and luckily my friends ducked but Tadase didn't. The scythe pierced through his skin and dug in deep through his stomach. It wasn't a severe injury like I hoped it to be but it should keep him down for a while. While he was withering away in pain, I managed to run for it. I could still hear Tadase calling for me to come back angrily. _

"_I swear I'm going to come after you Amu Hinamori!" That sentence just made me run faster. I didn't even know what my destination was but I just wanted to get away from there. All I felt at the moment was fear, pain and sadness. I just wanted it all to end. The whole situation was giving me a headache. It was like I was a bird trapped in a cage for eternity and even if I escaped, a chain would restrain me from going any farther. I wanted to run away from reality. As far away from all of this commotion as possible._

* * *

Amu shot up from the bed covered in sweat. She looked around the room which appeared to be a bedroom.

_When did I fall asleep? When did I get on this bed?_

Amu found Ikuto sleeping on the edge of the bed with his face facing her.

_He must have been the one that brought me here._

Ikuto suddenly opened his sleepy eyes a little and looked at Amu. When he saw that she was awake, he smiled at her.

"Glad your finally awake." He said sleepily and went back to sleep. Amu just stared at Ikuto and realized that he was sitting next to her and waiting for her to wake up this whole time. Amu's face reddened but it wasn't noticeable in the dark. She got off the bed and lifted Ikuto's legs. She placed them on the bed and rotated his body a little so he could sleep more comfortably. She pulled the covers over him and smiled at her proud accomplishment. Amu suddenly yawned and noticed that she was still sleepy. She got onto the other side of the bed and slipped into the blanket. Amu closed her eyes and tried to get to sleep but she just couldn't go to sleep.

Ikuto started to move around in his sleep and rotated himself so he was facing Amu. He dragged his arm over Amu and left it there. Amu didn't know what to do in this kind of position. After a while, Amu found it comfortable how warm it was with Ikuto next to her. Amu cuddled closely to Ikuto and closed her eyes with a smile on her face but that hapiness was soon to be disrupted...

* * *

**So how was it? I don't exactly know if this idea is original since I read stories from here and there and watch animes here and there so I sort of use some of their ideas =.= Dunno but do tell me if you think it's okay so far or needs improvement. Greatly appreciate it. Thanks for reading Chapter 1 of Outsider~**


	2. Chapter 2

_Previously…_

_Ikuto started to move around in his sleep and rotated himself so he was facing Amu. He dragged his arm over Amu and left it there. Amu didn't know what to do in this kind of position. After a while, Amu found it comfortable how warm it was with Ikuto next to her. Amu cuddled closely to Ikuto and closed her eyes with a smile on her face. _

* * *

Ikuto woke up to the warm rays of the sun hitting his face. He sat straight up and yawned while stretching to shake off the sleepiness that still lingered throughout his body. He looked around the room and wondered how he ended up sleeping on the bed. He remembered that he was sleeping on the side of the bed watching over Amu. He looked beside him and noticed Amu sleeping away next to him. He lied down and looked at Amu's sleeping face.

_She's pretty cute when she's sleeping.._

"You should stop watching me while I'm sleeping you perv." Ikuto accidently fell off the bed all startled. He didn't suspect Amu to be awake already. He grabbed the edge of the bed and slowly rose so that only his eyes showed. He saw Amu fully awake and staring sleepily at him. She glared at him silently.

"Umm, then how about I take you out to go shopping? After all, I did sort of promise you that I would go with you to buy some clothes for you." Amu looked at him for a while before turning around onto her other side.

"Whatever." She mumbled. Ikuto couldn't help but smile at her. He got up and headed for the door.

"I'll be downstairs making breakfast. Come down when you're ready. I washed your clothes last night so you can wear them again. I left them on the chair over there. Remember to come down for breakfast alright?" With that, he closed the door behind him. Amu smiled secretly to herself and felt really excited to go shopping later. She kicked the covers off of her and got ready as quickly as she could. She wanted to start the day as fast as possible.

* * *

Ikuto held a couple bags in his hands which contained clothes he and Amu had bought together. Amu was walking a couple paces ahead of him swinging her arms happily while humming a tune. Amu spun around to face Ikuto.

"Thank you for buying those clothes for me. I really appreciate it." Amu had a smile placed upon her face. Ikut's face softened when he saw her smile but was quickly replaced with a smile of his own.

"Your welcome. And I'm glad I could be of service to a beautiful lady like you." Ikuto bowed with one hand placed across his stomach. Amu's face felt really warm as she quickly spun around with her hands intertwined behind her. Amu kept humming the tune until she came to an abrupt halt. Ikuto was was behind her, wondered what had happened. He watched her from behind as he saw her hands created fists. Blades shot through her sleeves, ripping them a little. Amu ran straight into a guy that had blonde hair and grabbed him by the neck. She pushed him to the ground and pointed her swords at him. The guy had a smile spreading across his face. Amu got annoyed by this.

"Wipe the smile off of your face, Tadase!" But he completely disregarded what she had said and started to laugh.

"Shut up!" Amu was about to stab him to death because he pissed her off so much but the guy shielded his face with his arms.

"Please don't hurt me!" Amu stopped and her eyes widened. She came to realize that this guy wasn't even Tadase! He just had the same haircut as him. It was just her mind playing tricks on her. She felt Ikuto place his hand onto her shoulder. Amu got up from the guy as he ran frantically into the crowd that had formed around her. Murmurs spread througout the crowd like a virus. Amu felt like she was suffocating between the glares of the people looking at her like she was a freak. A little kid ran out of the crowd towards Amu but their mom quickly pulled her back.

"Don't get close to that girl. She's dangerous." Her mom whispered to her and they quickly made their way out. A guy from somewhere in the crowd blurted something out loudly.

"You freak!" It was like the start of the fire as other people followed his action and added to the fire.

"Monster!"

"You'll never fit in with the rest of humanity! You shouldn't even be here!"

"You outsider!" Amu felt the pain in her chest again and she hated this feeling. It was a pain that she never wanted to encounter again but it seemed like it had found its way through. Amu felt water drop onto her hand and a couple more followed. She looked at her hand and found out it was her tears. Her face felt warm and she didn't want to face any of this any longer so she ran through the crowd. She covered her ears to block out the insults but the sound traveled into her ear loud and clear. Ikuto followed Amu frantically and reached out his arm. He grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace.

"Let go of me!" Amu struggled within Ikuto's grasp but he only tightened his grip. Ikuto felt Amu's tears drop onto his hand.

"Why won't you let go? You heard what those people said." Amu wiped her tears furiously with her sleeve but more came tumbling down her cheeks.

"So what? It's just that those people are too afraid to face reality and spread rumors around without getting to know you."

"But you hardly even know me too! For all I could know, you could be thinking the same thing as those other people!" People walking by looked at Amu with a strange look but left the two alone.

"Then I'll just spend more time with you and get to know you better." Amu looked at him with tear filled eyes. Ikuto felt a pain in his chest when he saw her like that.

"Really?"

"Yea."

"Pinkie promise?" Amu stuck out her pinkie but it appeared to be trembling.

"Pinkie promise." Ikuto wondered what was wrong but hooked his pinkie with her tinier one. Ikuto picked up Amu in a bridal style way and started to walk home.

"H-Hey! I can walk you know!"

"But I think that this princess has had enough for today. Try to get some rest until we get home alright?"

"That might be a good idea." Amu mumbled as she closed her eyes. Ikuto carried her home but couldn't help but notice something.

_Why are her swords still out? Wait a second, why am I carrying everything? My arms are going to ache after this…_

Ikuto passed a shop that sold stunning dresses and suits for men. He walked back and looked at the shop.

_That reminds me…_

* * *

Ikuto gently placed Amu on her bed and placed the things he bought for her on the ground. Ikuto silently closed the door behind and was about to head to his lab to do further research on his current topic but a glimpse from the corner of his eye caught his attention. He saw a shadow run the opposite way that he was going and Ikuto quickly followed after. He didn't remember letting anyone else in. Who could it be? Ikuto ran quicker to catch up to the shadow and saw that they had went into one of his storage rooms. Ikuto grabbed the handle but the door split into pieces before he could even push the door open. The pieces smashed upon the ground and on the other side of the door revealed Amu. Her eyes were narrowed as she pointed the sword at him. The point was just a centimeter away from his face and he looked at Amu. She looked a little different. Like she was very agitated.

She suddenly swung her arms but Ikuto dodged the blade just in time but a part of his hair was cut off. Amu kept on swinging her sword recklessly until she had cornered him against a wall. She dug her sword into the wall right beside his head.

"If you want to know me better, you should know the side affect after I release my weapons." Amu pulled her swords out and they vanished when she wished them to. Amu covered her face with her hand and when she let go, she was back to normal. Ikuto was very perplexed.

"Side affect?"

"Yep. After I summon my weapons, when I finish using them, I get this urge to cut something, or as I call it, a 'killing intent'." Amu explained to him.

"That explains why that room didn't have a door…"

"Yeah… sorry about that." Amu laughed sheepishly. An awkward silence overwhelmed them.

"Oh, that's right! I'm going to be going to this formal party where people with different jobs are going to be attending. I was apparently invited because I had worked for the guy hosting the whole thing." Ikuto told her.

"Okay? So why tell me this now?"

"I wanted you to come with me."

"Why?"

"I'm allowed to bring somebody along and since you might get lonely here, I wanted you to come along." Amu's cheeks had a tinge of pink on them. Ikuto chuckled and Amu hit him on the head for being an idiot.

"Ah!"

"What?"

"I don't have any make-up with me to spiff myself up! Even though I don't wear make-up much." Amu mumbled the last part. She covered her face in depression.

"Don't worry about that." Ikuto reassured her. Amu spread her fingers apart and peeked through the gaps.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, when you were taking a nap, I was able to buy a dress for you and tuxedo for me. The cashier lady was kind enough to put in some make-up for me because… yea, that's basically what happened." Ikuto didn't want to tell Amu that the cashier lady said that looked like a couple like that. He didn't know how she would react if he did tell her.

"Really? You actually went to buy a dress for me?" Amu's eyes sparkled.

"I was going to buy a tux anyways so why not." Amu's face fell as she silently walked back to her room. Ikuto watched her retreating figure and wondered what he did wrong.

Amu opened the door to her room as she stared into the pitch black room. She flicked the switch and light filled the room. She looked around the room and noticed that Ikuto had left her belongings on the floor next to the mirror. Amu rummaged through the bags and found a bag filled with cosmetics. She pulled out some make-up and started to apply them on her face. She remembered some tips that Yaya, Rima and Nadeshiko had given her at a sleepover back when they were still friends. Amu was applying lip gloss but stopped half way. She stared at her reflection and felt guilty. They all had some happy moments together until _he_ destroyed everything. Amu bunched up her hands and let her tears fall.

"I'm so sorry." Amu quietly whimpered.

* * *

Amu walked out her room and walked towards the long staircase. Ikuto suddenly came out of his room and Amu jumped back all startled.

"Oh, Amu! Sorry. I didn't know you were there." Ikuto pulled Amu to her feet and got a good look at her.

"You look beautiful." And he was right. Amu wore a strapless white dress that had layered frills. Lines started at the top of the dress and flowed downwards. A black ribbon with a black flower was etched onto the side of the ribbon. It wrapped around her upper torso creating a simple look yet Amu's snow white skin complemented the dress accordingly.

"So do you." Ikuto wore a simple white collared shirt with a black tailor suit with dress pants that matched. He wore a blue silk shirt under the suit and a blue striped tie. **(Pictures of profile. I changed the colour from red to blue cuz I thought it would fit him better)**

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Of course! What did you take it as?"

"Well, I don't know if guys like to be called, I don't know, _beautiful?_"

"Then you look _handsome._" Amu corrected herself. Ikuto smiled and bent his arm but left some space so Amu could put her arm through the gap.

"Shall we?"

"We shall." Amu hooked her arm with Ikuto's and they were both on their way to the party.

x-x-x

Amu stared dumbfound at the enormous mansion. It was four times bigger than Ikuto's home.

"Come on." Ikuto walked along side Amu as they encountered a bouncer that stood in front of the door.

"Name please."

"Ikuto Tsukiyomi." The bouncer checked the list and moved to the side.

"Hope you enjoy your visit." Ikuto and Amu walked pass him and entered the mansion. Amu stared at the marble floor that was so clean that it reflected her reflection. They made their way through the hallway and Amu saw people all gathered up at an opening.

"Is that where we're going to?" Amu pointed at the people slowly entering the room.

"Yeah. I'm going to be talking to some other people first so you can look around but don't leave this place. Actually, don't leave that room okay?" Amu just silently nodded. When they finally reached their destination, Amu thought her eyes were deceiving her at first. She blinked a couple of times but it was all real. Amu quickly ran to the table that was filled with food. It even had a chocolate fountain. Ikuto caught sight of some people he knew and decided to greet them. Amu looked at the food she could dip in chocolate and decided to try the strawberries. She grabbed the stick that stuck out from it and dipped it in chocolate. Amu pulled it out and was about to eat it when she felt a presence behind her. Amu quickly turned around but didn't see anyone behind her.

_What's wrong with me today? I'm being too paranoid…_

Suddenly, someone covered Amu's nose with a piece of cloth and Amu immediately fell unconscious. The person caught her limp body and smiled.

"You're too off guard lately, Amu." He quickly walked to where the shadow overwhelmed the people that dared cross the border line. He walked into the darkness and disappeared without a trace.

**

* * *

**

I didn't read over this chapter so I don't know if it was rushed or not or had any grammar mistakes so please excuse me for that. Well, hope you liked Chapter 2 of Outsider~


	3. Chapter 3

_Previously…_

"_You're too off guard lately, Amu." He quickly walked to where the shadow overwhelmed the people that dared cross the border line. He walked into the darkness and disappeared without a trace._

* * *

Ikuto finished up his talk with an actress he accidently bumped into and headed for the table covered with food. He looked around but didn't see Amu anywhere.

_Where could she be? _

Ikuto felt a tap on his shoulder and looked around to see who it was. All he saw was a person with a hood that hid all of their face except their mouth. A smile spread across the person's face.

"Goodnight." The man quickly hit Ikuto's pressure point with a hard blow and he fainted from the sudden attack. During that process, the man's hood had fallen off and so did his glasses. He lowered himself to reach his specs, his rusty coloured locks falling. He picked them up and placed them in his pocket. He slung the unconscious man over his shoulder and walked into the shadows.

* * *

Amu struggled to break free of the chains that bonded her hands to the wall behind her. She clenched her hands and pulled even harder but the chains were hard to break. She summoned her swords but when she did, the chains tightened around her wrist to the point where she thought her hands would break off. She forced the swords back and the chains grip loosened. The door suddenly opened with a loud creaking sound and light spilled into the dark room. Amu had to squint for a while until her eyes adjusted. At the door stood the person she hated the most.

"My, my Amu. How disappointing. I thought we trained you better than that."

"Be quiet!" Tadase moved so quickly that Amu couldn't even see him move. He lifted her chin so she looked up at him. He stared down at her with cold eyes.

"Watch your words. I can do whatever I want with you now. Don't push it." For the first time, Amu actually felt scared of Tadase. She looked down and tried to hold back the tears. Her hands started to tremble as her eyes stung from holding in the tears of fear.

"Ikuto, Ikuto, Ikuto. Help me. I'm scared." Amu kept on whimpering his name out. Tadase threw his head back and bursted into laughter.

"You've become so pathetic Amu. But since you want to see him so much, then I can show you him right now. Nikaidou, bring him in." Tadase raised his voice and a man with brown hair entered through the door. She could easily tell from the blue hair that it was Ikuto. Amu gasped at the unconscious body. Amu struggled from the chains.

"What did you do to him?"

"Nothing really. Tadase told me to bring him here. I owed him for saving my life but I was really neutral on the whole life thing. I didn't really care if I lived or died. I finished my deal so after this; you won't ever see me again." Nikaidou spat onto the ground.

"Bring him to the lab." Tadase narrowed his eyes at the spit on the floor but Nikaidou ignored his expression and left.

"Give Ikuto back!" Tadase turned around and looked at Amu. His lips slowly curved into a smile.

"If you want Ikuto back so badly, I can make a deal with you. It'll benefit for you and him."

"What deal?"

"A deal where I can remove the human weapon we fused into you since it's been contained in you long enough, it should be stable. I'll keep the weapon and you can go see Ikuto." Amu's eyes widened.

"You can really do that?"

"Of course."

"And you won't hurt Ikuto?"

"I promise."

"Okay then. Deal." Tadase walked over to the corner of the room and rummaged through materials scattered everywhere that Amu hadn't noticed. He pulled out a weird looking glove with wires attached that overlapped each other. He slipped his hand into the glove and walked over to Amu. With a wicked smile, he plunged his hand right into Amu's chest. Amu coughed up blood and started to scream. She pulled the chains and her nails dug into her clenched fists. Amu felt like she was dying a slow and painful death. Amu felt like Tadase was touching her heart and he ripped it out of her. Amu coughed up even more blood. She jerked her head upwards and screamed as loud as she could. It hurt so much in side of her and she thought she was going to die but apparently, the pain was still there and she was still well alive.

When Tadase pulled out what Amu felt like was her heart, an exact copy of Amu had come out and Tadase pulled his hand back. The Amu he had pulled out had narrowed her eyes at him but he didn't care right now. Two Amu's stood before him; one who was about to pass out and one had eyes that wanted to kill. Amu's head hung and said breathlessly "You promised you'd let me go see Ikuto. Let me go."

"I don't give a shit about what you have to say." He spat at me.

"But you promised!" Tadase looked at her with a stupid expression.

"You know me too well Amu to think that I would actually keep a promise. After all, promises are meant to be broken. You," Tadase pointed at the Amu he had retrieved "from now on, your name is going to be Claire. Get her out of here, drag her if you need to and make sure that she never comes back here. I have other business to take care of." Claire just gave a nod and watched Tadase walk out. She grabbed Amu and broke the chains off. Amu began to struggle but the human weapon silenced her by knocking her out. She brought her back to her house and laid her on her front door steps. This was going to lead to a new life for _both_ of them.

* * *

Tadase looked down in amusement at the man strapped tightly to the chair.

"Well, time to take care of this business and head back." Tadase said quietly.

"What?" Ikuto looked at Tadase.

"What do you want?" Tadase glared menacingly at Ikuto but Ikuto didn't even flinch.

"I want to know why I'm being held captive. I want to at least know why I'm here. I was just trying to find Amu and suddenly, I was kocked unconscious. Care to explain?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you. Besides, I already got rid of _her._" Tadase spat out.

"Are you talking about Amu? What did you do to her?" Ikuto struggled under the straps and tried to get up but the straps didn't budge.

"That's exactly why you're here. It's your fault for even taking her in. If you just ignored her that day, you wouldn't even be here. That's why, we're going to erase you memory. You shouldn't even know about Amu so we've got to erase everything."

"_My memory? All of it?"_

"All of it. Begin the process!" Tadase yelled at a girl with long blonde wavy hair behind a control booth. She pushed some buttons forward and Ikuto immediately felt a tingle shoot throughout his body. His eyes widened as his life flashed before him. He saw when he first became a scientist and how excited he felt when he finally accomplished his dream. Once he saw the memory, it just disappeared and he totally forgot about it and it continued until he forgot everything. Tadase looked at the girl with a wicked smile.

"Good job Rima. You're dismissed." Rima looked at Ikuto with pity for a moment and walked out quickly so Tadase could do what he wanted.

Ikuto looked up at the ceiling but couldn't gather up his thoughts. He felt so empty inside.

"Sleep." Tadase put a hand over Ikuto's eyes and blocked out the light. Ikuto felt sleep overcome him and fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

Ikuto woke up and found out he was lying down on the cold floor on the streets. He was in a back alley way where everyone in the neighborhood kept their garbage. Ikuto was curious what the trash heap since he had never seen anything like it in his life or what he could recall. He rummaged through the garbage and one thing caught his eye. A violin was placed on of the alley ways wall and was glistening when the moonlight shone on it. He picked up the violin and the bow and placed the violin on his shoulder. The movement felt natural as he pulled the bow across the strings. It felt like he was born to play the violin. The melody that came out of the violin enchanted him and he just kept on playing and playing. A soft smile spread across his lips as he closed his eyes and continued to play.

* * *

Amu woke up to find herself staring at the starry sky. She had got what she had always wanted; freedom. But then how come she felt sad? In the vast sky, Ikuto was under the very same sky yet she couldn't reach him. She even saw him yet she couldn't do anything to help him. Who knows where he is now. She didn't even know where he was now. Amu felt something wet fall down her cheeks. She touched her check and looked at her hand. She was crying.

* * *

Amu woke up to the birds chirping outside. Amu sat up and looked around the room. She was distressed when she didn't find Ikuto anywhere in sight but then last night's memories flooded back to her like an on coming storm and hit her hard. Amu felt lost and was honestly confused on what she would do now. Amu got up and changed but whenever she tried to think of something else other than what happened last night, her mind kept on thinking of Ikuto. She felt a pang of guilt as it was her fault that Ikuto was captured. It was probably the same reason that her friends were held captive as well. It was her fault that she had even gotten _close_ to them. If she didn't become friends with them, everything would be alright. If Amu had only refused that hand the day Ikuto took her in, he wouldn't be caught up in this mess. At that moment, Amu's mind cleared. It felt so simple all of a sudden. Amu quickly got up and found any empty suitcases she could use. She started to pack a small variety of needed things and quickly walked out the mansion. She felt determined.

_Where ever you are Ikuto, I'm going to find you and bring you back!_

_

* * *

_

_I could feel the fire around me as the heat started to get to me but on the outside, I was unfazed. It was just like how Amu's parents had died but that doesn't matter to me. I had my own life. I wasn't a person trapped within a person anymore. I was free. And I went by the name Claire. _

_I walked around the fire to look for any survivors. Tadase ordered me to kill anyone that was still alive in this burnt down town. I did as I was told but was this close to slice his head off because I just hated him so much. He kept on telling me what to do. Do this, do that. That was all he ever said to me. It was __my__ life yet he was in charge of it. I just hated being treated that way._

_I looked around and saw a man with midnight blue hair barely standing up. I summoned my swords and walked up to the man. I was about to kill him until he looked up at me. I froze. I had seen this man somewhere. I recalled that this was a violinist from a poster I burnt down not to long a go. Then I remembered something else, Amu knew this person. He went by the name of Tsukiyomi Ikuto._

_Even thought I didn't care about that girl one bit, she had grown fond of this man and some of it had rubbed off on me when we were split apart. I shared some of the same attributes as her. _

_I felt my face heat up a little but it must have been the heat from the fire. I stared into the man's eyes as he didn't remember me or my outer appearance since I looked like Amu. I was hesitant on killing this man when I heard a command from behind._

"_Claire! Kill him! What are you waiting for you useless piece of trash!" I gritted my teeth when I heard the voice I hated the most. Tadase. Another attribute I shared with Amu and I hated him tens times more that she hated him. I turned around and faced him._

"_Stop telling me what to do."_

"_You belong to me so I can do whatever I want with you." Tadase said darkly._

"_Well your not the boss of __my__ lifeand I'm going to live it how I want it to be. Without __you__ in it." I glared at Tadase._

"_And how are you going to do that? You are forever bound by chains."_

"_Just watch me." I spun around on my heel and picked up Ikuto and slung him over my shoulder. I turned my head back and looked at Tadase._

"_See ya." And I sprang into the darkness, bringing Ikuto along with me._

_

* * *

_

_I was in a alley way at night in the city and the shadows of the buildings hovered over us. I had lost Tadase on the way here but there were more important matters to take care of right now. I took a piece of my shirt and ripped off the sleeve. I wrapped it around his arm as it was bleeding the most. He must've woken up in the process because I saw him writher in pain when I was bandaging him._

"_Just hold still." I told him calmly. He closed his eyes._

"_You smell like strawberries. It smells so familiar. Why?" He murmured softly. I just focused on his arm. _

"_How should I know?" I replied but in fact, I did know. I smelled like Amu. I laughed bitterly. Whatever I did, I always compared myself to Amu even though I didn't care about her anymore. How ironic. I was supposed to be living the life I always wanted but it seemed like I would never actually be separated from Amu. Suddenly, I heard a whistle come from him._

"_What?" I looked him. I never noticed how close we were and backed away a little._

"_You wear such revealing clothing." He pointed at my chest. I wore a black top that showed a little too much of my cleavage and the top stopped right below my chest. My shorts were just as bad. They were so short, it looked like I wasn't even wearing any pants. My knee high black high heels finished the whole look. I blushed as I got up. I turned around to hide my beet red face. _

"_Anyways, Bye." I started to walk away when I was suddenly pulled back. I felt lips planted on mine. My eyes widened as I found out who was kissing me. Tsukiyomi Ikuto. _

_

* * *

_

**Yea… Sorry it took me so long to get this up. Was so lazy =P I didn't read over this so if you catch any mistakes, forgive me. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Ciao~**


	4. Chapter 4

"_**Anyways, Bye." I started to walk away when I was suddenly pulled back. I felt lips planted on mine. My eyes widened as I found out who was kissing me. Tsukiyomi Ikuto. **_

_**

* * *

**_

_**~Claire~**_

_I felt a blush crawl up my face and I thought that he would notice the heat coming from my cheeks. I felt dizzy as I inhaled his cologne that he wore. My eye lids started to close when I remembered __who__ I was kissing. I quickly pushed Ikuto off of me and started to walk away once again. Ikuto grabbed my hand and brought my face to eye level._

"_If you dare kiss me again, I'll make sure you can't reproduce anymore." I glared at him coldly. He gave out a little chuckle. _

"_I just wanted to get your name so I could thank you but if you want me to kiss you again, I wouldn't mind." He ran his thumb over his lips. I felt like puking. _

"_Why should I tell you? For all I could know, you could be trying to stalk me." I don't know what happened to me but I felt a small smile spread across my lips._

"_Aw, you figured out my plan. But seriously, can I get your name?" He looked up at me with pleading eyes. I looked to the side, trying to decide on whether if I should tell him m name or not. I took a little peek at Ikuto and my defense completely cracked. I had given up._

"_Claire." I quietly mumbled._

"_What was that?" Ikuto cupped his ear. I could feel my patience running on ends as I pulled his ear and yelled into it._

"_CLAIRE YOU JACK ASS! IF YOU MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF AGAIN, I WON'T HESITATE TO TAKE UP THE REQUEST I MADE BEFORE!" Ikuto jumped back all startled and held his now throbbing ear. I crossed my arms in triumph. I got up and really was going to leave this time. I was just about to exit into the city and try to blend in when I heard Ikuto from behind me._

"_Wait!" I turned my head back and started to panic when he just fell half way as he was reaching out for me. I grumbled a little and put his arm over my shoulder and carried him to shelter. _

_

* * *

__I sighed. His wounds had opened up again so I had to bandage up his arm again but this time, I used the actual bandage wrap and not a piece of cloth. When I touched his wound, his eyes shot open and he yelped. He scrambled away from me and held his bruised arm with tears in the corner of his eyes. _

"_Oops~ Well, since you're awake, you can bandage yourself up. I bought you an apartment so you can stay here. Bye~" I waved bye to him and closed the bedroom door behind me. Just as soon as it closed, the door was flung open and a strong pair of arms wrapped around me. _

"_How many times must you keep stopping me from leaving?" I said quietly while staring down at the floor._

"_As many times as it takes." A small laugh escaped my lips._

"_You're persistent." I told him. "Can you let go of me now? I find it awkward how you're sniffing my hair…" I told him awkwardly. _

"_But I don't want to." He whined._

"_Then what do I have to do to get you off of me?" I asked him._

"_Agree that you'll stay with me." I turned around and pushed myself away from him, breaking his hold on me._

"_Woah there. You don't want me to stay. I don't belong here. I never belonged anywhere…" I trailed off my sentence, not wanting to finish it._

"_Then if you stay with me, I'll make you belong here." My eyes widened. I opened my mouth to retort something back but nothing came out. I was speechless. I wanted to tell him that it was the most stupidest thing I've ever heard but then I couldn't bring myself to say it. Why? Did I actually want to stay here? I looked at Ikuto and my feeling for him flooded back to me. I touched my cheeks and they were warm. I didn't like him. Amu liked him, not me. There's no way I can stay here. Suddenly, Ikuto pulled me into an embrace once again. _

"_Don't worry about all those things. I just want to do something for you since you've been through a lot." I was wondering what he was talking about when I figured out that I was talking out loud and Ikuto had heard everything. I felt something sting my eyes and fall onto my cheeks. I touched them. When I did, more just came flowing out. Even though I was crying, Ikuto just held onto me tighter and stayed with me until I stopped. I felt very protective in his arms and he seemed to care about me. I felt myself flutter a little at that thought. Maybe if I stay with him, will this feeling last?_

"_Fine." I mumbled quietly. Ikuto spun me around and stared straight into my eyes._

"_Really?"_

"_Mhmm." His face brightened as pulled me into a tight embrace. My eyes widened at the sudden action but my expression softened. Maybe it wasn't just Amu falling for him. Soon enough, I fell asleep in his arms and the smell of cologne wrapping around me with the softest touch._

_

* * *

_

_At some point, my eyes had fluttered open and I was blinded by the light for a moment. I rolled onto my other side to block out the light and re-adjust my eye sight. When I did, I was staring into the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen._

"_Good morning sunshine." I wacked Ikuto lightly in the head and pulled the covers over my head._

"_Don't call me sunshine." I grumbled._

"_Whatever you say princess." Ikuto propped his head with his elbow and stared at the lump next to him. I pulled the covers a little to take a peak at Ikuto and he pulled the covers right off of the bed. I shivered._

"_Give me back my blanket!" Instead of him doing as I asked, he hugged me instead._

"_This is much warmer don't you think?" I felt a blush form on my cheeks. I sure was warm. A smile spread across my face. I'm glad I agreed. _

"_Why're you smiling?" He asked curiously. I stared at the ceiling._

"_Nothing. Nothing at all."_

_

* * *

__1 year later…_

**~Amu~**

I walked out of the airport and sighed. I had just searched through all of France but still couldn't find Ikuto anywhere. I've had been traveling all over the world to find Ikuto but still hadn't caught one sight of him yet. Of course, I can't keep loitering around without a job anymore because I was running out of cash so I took up a job of being a journalist that traveled the world to get stories down. Then, I could go search for Ikuto and have enough money to be able to make a living.

Right now, I'm walking down the streets of Japan. I checked my watch and it said _10 p.m._ I stifled a yawn that escaped my mouth. I quickly caught a taxi and headed for a hotel. I quickly got my key pass for my room and flung my luggage into the corner of my room. I flopped down onto the bed and hugged the pillow. When can I actually find Ikuto? It's already been a year! Either he is really good at hiding or I'm just a bad seeker. I felt a pang of loneliness in my chest and my grip on the pillow tightened.

'_Where are you Ikuto?'_

_

* * *

_

**To answer your question ****mountaingirl47,** **I guess I forgot that she didn't have a name yet so I put her name by accident and did that a few times before the flashback. Oops ^^" But I'm glad that you like my story and thank you to all of my other reviewers and silent readers =D It's awesome that you guys actually read this cuz it's so short. Hehe ^^" Well, hope you enjoyed the chapter =3**


	5. Chapter 5

'_**Where are you Ikuto?'**_

_**

* * *

**_

**~Amu~**

I pulled the covers over my head, attempting to block out the annoying noise of the beeping alarm clock but of course; it didn't work. I groaned in annoyance and slapped the alarm. The sound finally stopped but I was already wide awake. I quickly pulled on some clothes and decided to take a walk around to see what the neighborhood was like.

I opened the front door and a comfortable spring breeze passed by me. I took a deep breath and felt refreshed. Cherry blossoms had started to bloom and it felt like I was in the middle of a maze. I snapped out of my trance when I saw a couple walked by. Now that I took a good look at my surroundings, a lot of young couples were walking beneath the cherry blossoms. I felt sort of jealous of them. I quickly walked away from the cherry blossoms and away from the people that could hang with who they liked.

I walked and walked and was fascinated by how respectful the people were. I walked by a book store. Some girls were staring at a poster posted up next to it. I heard them squeal in excitement. I rolled my eyes and walked past them but stopped when I accidently overheard something.

"I can't believe that _the_ Ikuto Tsukiyomi is performing again!"

"I know right!"

I felt my heart leapt for a second. I walked up to the girls.

"Um, excuse me but can I ask you a question?" The girls looked over at me and gave me a pleasant smile.

"Sure!"

"Did you just say that a man named Ikuto Tsukiyomi was going to hold a concert?" They nodded vigorously and pointed to the poster.

"Only an idiot would miss out on this event! He was so famous just around half a year a go and there was a lot of buzz going to around when he just disappeared one day. Now, it seems like he's back!" I looked at the poster and there, staring at me right in the face was Ikuto while he was playing the violin.

_Join us at XXXX_

_The renowned Ikuto Tsukiyomi will be holding a concert to celebrate his_

_come back to the music industry!_

_Don't miss out on this amazing event!_

I was stunned. He looked a little older than I last saw him. His hair had grown but nonetheless, he still had a bed head hair style. I felt relief wash over me. At least he was doing well. I looked over the poster in further detail and it said that the concert was going to be held at 3 p.m. I checked my watch and it said 2:30 p.m. I still had some time left. I waved to the girls.

"Thanks."

"No problem!" I continued walking down the path but my pace just increased. I ended up running. I ran and ran until my breathing became ragged. I laid my hands on my knees to catch my breath. A smile slowly spread across my face. I threw my hands up in the air.

"Finally!" I didn't care about all the stares that people gave me. I didn't care if people thought I was crazy. The only thing that was on my mind was Ikuto. I had finally found him.

* * *

I lined up with all the other fans that slowly entered the outdoor stage. There were people guarding the entrance so you could only get in with a ticket. I had just got the last ticket. Lets just say that I'm going to have to apologize to some people later at the ticket booth.

I showed the people by ticket and they gave me a nod. I walked in the entrance and started to climb the long staircase. I exited the small tunnel wrapped around the staircase and was engulfed by a loud applause. I stared at the stage and the only thing I felt was the spring breeze at the moment. I stared at the man that had taken cared of me. The man that I had grown to love. The man that I was looking for.

"Ikuto." I said silently. He placed his bow on his violin and started to play. The audience immediately fell silent. The soothing melody wafted throughout the crowd and it felt like I was in a trance. I closed my eyes and I could see a picture paint in my head. The part he was playing was like his way of venting the pain he suffered. The music gradually came to a forte and suddenly stopped. Then the music shifted to a happy tune. It was like all his fears were gone from that moment and he was flying freely in the sky. The music had finished and everyone applauded. My eyes snapped open and my eyes fell upon the man bowing on stage. I could already see people lined up near backstage eager to get the musician's autograph. I swiftly moved through the line and somehow got to the front of the line. When I saw Ikuto, I pounced on him.

"Ikuto! I missed you so much!" I hugged him tightly. He grasped my shoulder and stared at me with a smile on his face.

"Claire! Didn't you say that you got called at your modeling agency? Anyways, I'm so glad you could make it!" I felt a pang of pain in my chest. Claire?

"_Yea I did. How come your hugging some other girl_?" I spun around and my eyes widened and so did the girls. It was like I was staring at myself.

"Claire." I narrowed my eyes. I vaguely remembered her from my memories. She was the human weapon that freaking Tadase out in me. The person that destroyed my life.

"_Amu." _She said my name coldly. She glared at me. Ikuto looked back and forth from me to Claire. He looked befuddled.

"Claire! You never told me you had a twin!" We both ignored him at the moment and broke out into our own little argument.

"_What are you doing here?"_ Claire asked.

"I should be the one asking you that." I pointed an accusing finger at her.

"_I'm here to listen to Ikuto play. After all, I'm closer to him than you could ever be."_ She smiled in triumph.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her.

"_I happen to be his girlfriend." _My eyes widened. I turned around and looked at Ikuto. His eyes also widened. I thought I saw a flash of recognition on his face but it disappeared as fast as it appeared.I lowered my head.

"Sorry to bother you." I walked pass Claire and whispered something quietly to her.

"I'm not giving up on him." She smirked and placed a hand on her hip.

"_Good luck." _I was definitely not going to give up on him. Be prepared Claire because I'm going to get him back.

* * *

**~Claire~**

_I looked at Amu's retreating figure. Even if she intends to get Ikuto back, I'm not going to give up without a fight. I felt a tap on my shoulder and spun around. I noticed the fans behind Ikuto had grown silent and the guards silently ushered them out. _

"So what have you been keeping from me?"_ I looked Ikuto right in the eye._

"_I haven't been keeping anything from you."_

"Then who was she?"_ The expression on his face made me look to the side, avoiding eye contact._

"_You already know her." I said quietly and walked away from him. Ikuto ran to catch up to me._

"What do you mean?"

"_It's exactly like I told you. You know her. I wasn't keeping anything from you."_

"But how would I know her? She looks exactly like you! Can you explain that to me?" I was starting to get agitated.

"_How the hell would I know? Why do you keep insisting that I'm lying to you?" Ikuto pulled me into a hug._

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry. It's just that… I just wasn't prepared for something like this to happen." _Then Ikuto picked me up._

"C'mon. You've had a tiring day. Lets go back." _I looked up at Ikuto. Wrong move. The pain just dug into me even more. Ikuto focused once again on getting us back home and tried to act like everything was fine but I saw it. The expression on his face. It was filled with pain._

_

* * *

_

_Italics= Claire_

Regular wording= Amu

**So? Did you like it? Apparently, I'm not really good at making long chapters =3= Sorry if it's short. Hope you liked it~ Free Asian cookies if you review. XD**


	6. Chapter 6

"C'mon. You've had a tiring day. Lets go back." _I looked up at Ikuto. Wrong move. The pain just dug into me even more. Ikuto focused once again on getting us back home and tried to act like everything was fine but I saw it. The expression on his face. It was filled with pain._

* * *

**~Amu~**

I was being chased by something. I didn't know what it was but something inside me just told me to stay away from it. I ran and ran but it seemed like I was getting no where. The path seemed to run on forever. I eventually tripped and tumbled across the floor. I lay on my back, trying to catch my breath. I stared into a void of nothingness. What exactly was I running from?

"_Try looking in front of you."_ The voice chuckled at me. I looked to the direction the voice came from and my eyes widened. I was looking at Tadase. I probably looked like an idiot because he just laughed at me. I scrambled to my feet and tried to lunge at him but I couldn't move my feet. It was like I was glued there. I tried to utter something but nothing came out. Tadase started to walk forward. A wicked smile was plastered on his face and it sent a shiver down my spine.

"_Why are you running away from me? After all, our connection runs deep." _

"Tadase." I said his name through gritted teeth.

"_Now, now Amu. Lets not get hasty here." _

"What are you doing here Tadase?" I asked angrily.

"_Shouldn't you be the one who knows that?" _He looked at me with an accusing look. I finally snapped. I broke free of the constriction. I ran towards Tadase but an invisible wall blocked my way. I banged on the wall and kept on calling Tadase angrily but I couldn't break the transparent wall no matter how hard I tried.

"_Shut up."_ Said Tadase. For some reason, I was blown back and hit another wall behind me. It was like I was trapped within a cage. He started to walk towards me and I tried to back away from him but the stupid wall behind me blocked my way. I should've felt resentment toward him. Anger, hatred but nothing came to me except fear. Why was I so scared.

"_Why are you shivering so much Amu?" _Tadase looked down at me. I looked at my hands and indeed they were trembling.

"Why am I trembling so much?" I said to myself quietly but deep down, I had a feeling that I knew but I just didn't want to admit it. I grabbed hold of my hand and tried to stop it from shaking so much. I looked up but I didn't see Tadase anymore. Instead I saw Claire. It was like I was looking into the mirror.

"Claire?"

"_Glad you remember me even though I'm the person that you despised just as much as Tadase." _said Claire menacingly.

"What are you talking about?" I asked somewhat meekly. What happened to me? Why am I so scared?

"_You know what I'm talking about. You know it any better than I do." _She pointed her finger at me. I stared up at her, confused. Then, it looked like she snapped.

"_Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about! Remember that night? When Tadase told you that you could finally separate from me? He made an agreement with you saying that you could see Ikuto again. You agreed without much of a second thought. But I knew that there was another reason. Long story short, you hated me. Amu, I knew what you were feeling at the moment. I _am _you. And you also knew that wherever you went, we're still linked somehow and yet you still chose to have freedom. You might've gotten away from Tadase's clutches but have you ever thought of me?"_ Her shrill voice echoed.

"I _was the one that had suffered in your place." _Claire was so close to my face that I could feel her stare bore into me.I looked down at the floor and tried to avoid eye contact. I didn't want to feel more guilty than I already felt. Claire let out a laugh. I felt something sharp poke at my neck and looked at the gleaming sword etching at my throat. With a push of her wrist, she pushed the sword forward.

* * *

I woke up with a start, sweat covering my body. I looked around the room and realized it was just a dream. I flopped back down on the bed and wiped my forehead.

_It might have been a dream but it felt real enough._ I thought to myself. I touched my throat where the sword had supposedly cut me. I looked at my fingers and saw blood smeared over it. My eyes widened. I threw the bathroom door open and stared into the mirror. My throat had a cut running along it but it didn't seem to go too deep. I clutched onto the sides of the sink. I sighed of relief and noticed that I was holding my breath unintentionally. I rummaged through the cabinets of the newly bought apartment I bought at last minute because I had just enough money left for it. I couldn't afford to stay at a hotel anymore or I'd be wiped out. Even if I did buy this apartment hastily, it had a great view of the cherry blossoms that were near her apartment.

I pulled out the bandages and started to cover up the scar.

"There. Oh my gosh! I'm supposed to meet with the Director in 20 minutes! Why didn't he call me sooner! The things we do for our jobs…"

* * *

"Amu! You made it just in time!" The Director spun around on his chair.

"Tsukasa! Call me earlier when making meeting please!" I put my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

"But you weren't answering you cell phone! It was only the 20th time that you actually picked up~" He said with a childish voice.

"Correction," I held up a finger. "25th time. I thought you were some creep at first, calling 25 times." I mumbled the last part.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Now who am I going to write about this time?"

"Sit down, sit down. Want some tea?" He asked cheerfully.

"Sure, why not?" I sat down on one of the seats in front of his desk. Tsukasa was the Director of the journalist magazine I wrote for but he was only in charge of the Japan branch. I had met him by chance when I was in France searching for Ikuto. I didn't have any particular job yet and I was running out of money so Tsukasa was kind enough to get a job for me as a journalist.

"Thanks." I reached for the steaming cup and sipped the contents inside.

"So, lets just get to the point." He shuffled through some papers and handed me a sheet.

"You'll be interviewing Tsukiyomi Ikuto at 2 today…" When he mentioned Ikuto's name, I literally gagged on my drink.

"Is something wrong?" I coughed a couple of times before I got my coughing fit under control.

"Nothing at all. Go on."

"Right… He's an artist that plays the violin and had supposedly disappeared a while a go but made a sudden appearance again…" I didn't really hear what he said afterwards. I was too concentrated on the fact that I could see Ikuto again. I missed my first chance at meeting him properly the last time but hopefully this time it might be better. No matter what, I'm going to make you remember me Ikuto!

"…so that about covers it. Any questions?" I snapped out of my trance.

"Nope. None."

"Great. Then, get going."

* * *

We were supposed to meet at a local café in the area so I got seats reserved ahead of time. I ordered myself a cup of coffee while I was waiting and read the newspaper. Apparently, on the cover of most magazines, Ikuto's face dominated most of them. I flipped through them to see what I could find out about him but it seemed that the magazine covered almost anything you could've thought about. Then what was I doing here, interviewing him if he's already been asked the same questions over and over. I let out a sigh.

"Reading about me are we?" A voice whispered into my ear. I spilled some of my coffee on my hand.

"Ouch." I went to grab the napkin in front of me but another hand reached for it. They picked it up and helped wipe the spilt coffee from my hand. I felt a blush crawl up my cheeks. They slid into the seat across from me and intertwined his hands and put them under his chin, as if he was interested in me. I looked at the shady person in front of me and raised an eyebrow. I couldn't help but smile. He basically looked the same even after all this while only that he looked older and had sunglasses perched on his nose.

"My manager told me it would be easy to find you because he says that you stick out of the crowd and he was right." He said with a smile that he probably used in front of the camera many times.

"Is that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?" I asked and took a sip from my cup even though it was already empty. I just wanted to hide my face since I couldn't help myself from smiling non-stop.

"Depends on how you take at it." He shrugged. I raised my eyebrow again. "But I would take it as a compliment." He winked at me. I rolled my eyes. Was he always like this? I pulled out my pad and pen and started to write something down. He walked over to my side and laughed at what I wrote.

"A annoying, stupid, arrogant jerk." He read. I hesitated before I wrote another phrase. All sorts of questions came to my mind. Why did he forget me? What happened on the day he disappeared? But I ended up writing something else instead. There was an awkward silence after that. He walked back to his seat and sat down.

"So what do you need to ask me? I need to go somewhere after this so lets hurry up and end this." I hadn't even properly introduced myself and I had already ruined my chance of him possibly remembering me. I shouldn't have written it down. Out of all the things I could've written, I chose to wrote that. This sucks.

* * *

**~Ikuto~**

I looked to the side and then looked back at the girl sitting in front of me. She was still staring down at her pad but I could swear that she was fighting against the tears that were threatening to fall. I sighed and placed my forehead onto the table. I didn't want to make her cry. In fact, I felt an endless pit of guilt welling up inside of me. I turned my head to the side and looked at her. She wiped her tears with her sleeve.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled. She looked up from her pad and I saw how vulnerable she looked. I was captivated by her at that moment. I don't know how I didn't notice this before. She had vibrant pink hair and it reached up to her waist. Just like Claire's. My head shot up instantly. That was why I thought she looked familiar! She was wearing a hat over her head so I didn't notice she looked so much like Claire earlier. Wow, I'm slow…

"Sorry I'm holding you up. I'll finish this quickly so you can go." She started to ask me questions and I answered them. It was the usual questions that people normally asked me but for some reason, I felt as she was holding something back. She went over to the window next to us and opened it.

"Sorry, it was getting a little stuffy in here. Is it okay with you that it's opened?" She looked up at me from her pad.

"Yea, sure…" I said into my hand. I stared at her as she continued to write things down. A breeze came in and it blew her hair gently. She pulled her hair behind her ears and continued to jot things down. Why did she look so much like Claire? She acts different than her but… it just doesn't add up. Claire never told me about her having a twin. Then again, she had never talked about her family before. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my head.

"Agh!" I clutched the side of my head.

"Ikuto! Are you okay?" Her voice drowned out with the constant thumping in my head. A scene played before my eyes.

* * *

"_I forgot to ask, what's your name?" The girl was silent for a few moments before answering._

"_I don't have one." The girl looked back at him with a blank expression._

"_Ah." He thumped his hand on his palm. The girl looked at him questionably._

"_I just thought of a name for you. How's 'Amu' sound?" The girl didn't know why but she felt like that name was just perfect. Considering the silence he received, Ikuto thought the name was no good. _

"_No, no! I think that name suits me fine." _

* * *

The thumping had stopped but I had started to sweat all over.

"Ikuto!" I looked up and saw the girl that was in my vision.

"Amu…." She looked startled at first and so was I. What had just happened? I quickly got up from my seat and waved goodbye to her.

"Um, sorry but I… have to go now. It was nice chatting with you." I pushed the café's door and it rang when I pushed it.

"Have a nice day!" A waiter that was walking by said.

* * *

**~Amu~**

What had just happened? I needed to find out. I quickly paid and ran out the door. I looked side to side but I couldn't find him anywhere. Where did he go? At first it looked like he didn't even recognize me and then _BAM_, he remembers me. I looked up at the sky. Was it a good idea to write that phrase down?

**~Ikuto~ **

I suddenly remembered that phrase she had written down on that pad. Was it somehow connected to what he had just seen?

**~Amu and Ikuto~**

_What had happened to the person I knew before?_

* * *

**So? =D I know it takes me a long time to upload because I'm just too lazy to but I did it finally =D. Sorry if I made any mistakes. Oh, and to answer you question(s) Mermain123, lets just say that Tadase is out there somewhere looking for Claire endlessly until he can find her because she had escaped from him. Also, yes, it was only the moments with Amu that he forgot about but when his memory was erased, his personality changed a little too. That's about it I think. XD R&R? It makes me happy if you reviewed =3**


	7. Chapter 7

**~Amu and Ikuto~**

_What had happened to the person I knew before?_

* * *

**~Claire~**

_I literally pushed my way through a crowd to get to the place I was meeting with Ikuto. When my manager was done discussing all the boring stuff, I dashed right out of that ugly looking conference room. Would it kill them to re-decorate that room? _

"Hey watch it!" _A guy yelled angrily at me._

"_Sorry!"_ _I ran as fast as I could. I was trying the catch my breath but I didn't stop. I really wanted to meet up with Ikuto since we finally had spare time to go on a date. I hadn't seen him in a while because of the sudden rise of popularity he gained. When he was busy, I had nothing to do and when I was at work, he would be sleeping on the couch because he would be all tuckered out. How in-convenient right?_

"_Ikuto!"_ _I caught a glimpse of blue hair in the crowd and ran towards him. He was staring up at the sky. I looked in the direction he was looking at and saw a heart shaped cloud. I smiled. _

"_Iku-"_

"Amu…" _He silently said to himself. I stopped midsentence. Amu? No, I must've heard wrong. Ikuto doesn't remember Amu. He doesn't….._

"_Uhm, Ikuto?"_ I _waved a hand in front of his face. He seemed to come out of his trance_.

"Oh sorry. Claire! You made it. I was waiting for you." _He smiled at me. He held out his hand._

"Shall we?"

"_We shall." I said, taking his hand_.

* * *

_I took a side glance at him again but whenever I did, he would be looking elsewhere. I was finally getting annoyed._

"_Why do you keep looking elsewhere?"_ _I said coldly. He stopped dead in his tracks._

"What are you talking about?" _He said with a smile. He tried to cover up his mistake unsuccessfully. He was lying to me _and _he was thinking about Amu when he was supposed on a date with _me_. I finally snapped._

"_It's always Amu this, Amu that. It's all you ever think about! Well, I've had enough of her!"_ _I walked away madly. Okay, maybe I overreacted but it wasn't fair. He's my boyfriend so he should be thinking about _me. Not_ another girl. Ikuto grabbed my shoulder and spun me around._

"You're wrong."

"_Oh, so now I'm wrong?" I shrieked at him. I couldn't take the pain much longer._

"Claire. You know I don't mean that."

"_Then what do you want me to think? You keep thinking about Amu when I'm your girlfriend! Am I that unimportant?" I pleaded. I looked into his eyes and I couldn't take it anymore. I ran. _

"Claire!" _Ikuto called after me but I was already gone._

* * *

**~Amu~**

I walked endlessly pass stores. What was I supposed to do now? He just ran out of the café as fast as he could. I couldn't even catch a glimpse of him.

The crowd of people started the part behind as someone ran through the crowd. I could hear rants about watching where that person went. I turned around only to find long pink hair pass by my face and the person just kept on running ahead, not noticing me. I turned to look at the person who just ran by. Was that Claire?

"Claire!" I felt someone hug me from behind me. I jolted upright in surprise.

"I'm sorry. I won't ever think of Amu again. I'll forget her. Whatever it takes. I really love you and don't want to lose you." His voice became soft. I knew this voice. Ikuto? Realization dawned to me then and then I remembered what he just said. My eyes widened. What?

"Claire?" Ikuto spun me around and his eyes also widened.

"Amu…"

"Wow. That's nice to hear everyday that I'm a complete nobody. Well sorry if me being in your head was completely annoying you out." I tried to say harshly but my voice ended up cracking half way. I never intended on saying that but it just came out. Before Ikuto could utter another word, I spun on my heel and ran in the direction Claire went.

* * *

I ran to where I would head to if I felt depressed. I went to the closest park I could find. I looked at where the swings were and sure enough, Claire was there. I always loved closing my eyes and me swinging back and forth. That exact moment when you swing forward, I have this feeling of adrenaline coursing through my veins. I walked to the other set of swings and sat down. Claire looked at me in surprise for a moment and then glared at me coldy.

"_What do you want? Come here to laugh at how miserable I look?" _She laughed. I started to swing back and forth on the swing to get me going.

"Actually, I wanted to help you somehow."

"_What?" _She asked in surprise.

"Like I said, I wanted to help you."

"_Why all of a sudden?" _Claire said while wiping the remaining tears with her sleeve.

"I honestly don't know. I just felt like I was compelled to help you." I jabbed my foot into the sand to stop me form swinging. Claire let out a little laugh.

"_You really are interesting. I wish I could be like you." _When she said that, she sounded very depressed.

"You know, you don't have to be like me even if you look like me. You're you and I'm me. Nothing can change that." I blurted out. I never planned on saying it but it was something that was in the back of my brain, something I wanted to say but didn't. Claire looked at me and a smile spread across her face. I looked up at the sky, suddenly finding the sky very interesting. I felt my cheeks become warm.

"_Thank you."_

"Glad I could help…" I said quietly. Why was I even helping her? Wasn't I supposed to be enemies with her?

"But don't think that just because I helped you doesn't mean that I've given up my hopes on Ikuto." I told her. Claire smirked at me.

"_Trying to reassure yourself, huh?"_

"Duh! You know it!" I said loudly, putting both arms up into the air. I didn't care when people walking by started to stare at me weirdly. I felt like I could take on anything right about now.

"Claire!" Ikuto called from a distance. I could take on anything right about now _except_ that. I wasn't prepared to see Ikuto just yet. I was afraid that if I looked at him, I would burst out crying.

"Well, your boyfriend calls! I'll give you guys some space." I said nervously and started to walk in the other direction that Ikuto was coming form but Claire held me back.

"_You said that you loved him right?"_

"No, I _love _him, not loved." I blurted.

"_Well then, let's put that love to the test." _All I could think about at the moment was 'What?

* * *

**~Ikuto~**

"Oh my god! This totally sucks!" I yelled. I scratched my head annoyingly. I already made Claire upset, now, Amu must hate me for sure are what I said! I ruffled my hair again in annoyance. I really need to apologize to them, big time.

* * *

"How hard can it be to find two girls? What was I thinking?" I mumbled to myself. I kept wandering aimlessly, thinking where else they could be. When I looked up, I saw a pink head poking out from the bush. The park. That's where I forgot to check. I ran as quickly as I could and finally, I found Claire and Amu.

"Claire!" I saw Amu get up and try to walk away but Claire held her back. Claire said something to Amu that I couldn't hear but it must've shocked her because when I came closer, her face just showed pure shock.

"_Hi Ikuto." _Claire said happily. I looked at her weirdly. She was acting so happy. The last time I saw her, she was crying. Maybe she was fine without me…

"_Amu! Sit down~" _Claire pulled Amu down and she reluctantly sat down on the swing next to hers. Amu kept her head down but Claire just stared happily at me. What happened between these two? Then I remembered I needed to apologize.

"Hey, um, look. I'm sorr-"

"It's alright." Claire waved dismissively. A devilish smile appeared on her face. I didn't like the look on her face.

"_Hey Ikuto~ Which one of us do you like better?"_ Amu's head shot up and I tensed.

"What?" We both asked in unison. I was right. Things were going to get ugly.

* * *

**Review? =D**


	8. Chapter 8

**You can skip my happy rant bellow. Just wanted to express how happy I was =D~**

**Hi peoplez~ Thank you to **_**londonbridgesfalling, xXKililaXx, AmutoSavior283 and Take Me To My Fragile Dreams **_**for reviewing. You guys made my day XD When I looked at my emails, I saw like 11 emails that weren't there before. My face almost broke from smiling =D Sorry **_**londonbridgesfalling **_**and other possible people reading this if you wanted more action ^^" I'll try to put more from now on with some romance of course D But I'm glad you guys like the story. This is Chapter 8 of Outsider and hope you enjoy~**

* * *

"_Hey Ikuto~ Which one of us do you like better?"_ Amu's head shot up and I tensed.

"What?" We both asked in unison. I was right. Things were going to get ugly.

* * *

"_Well Ikuto?" _There was an awkward silence that enveloped them. Amu stared at Claire. She couldn't believe she was doing this to her. Then Amu looked at Ikuto. She thought that he would say Claire right away but he was hesitating. A tiny speck of hope welled up inside of her. Maybe she still had a chance.

"I-" Ikuto started but someone interrupted the moment by putting a dagger against Ikuto's throat.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A lovers quarrel between you three?" Both Amu and Claire stood up.

"Tadase." They both said menacingly. Amu should have been mad at the moment, which she was, but she was sort of relieved that Tadase came. Hard to believe, but he saved her from her heart breaking. Just this once, she was actually grateful for him but that was soon forgotten when Amu remembered that Ikuto was on the verge of dying. Amu willed her weapons to appear, like old times, but she realized that she didn't have them anymore. A sinking feeling filled her stomach. Just when she needed them the most, she didn't have them.

But Claire did. Swords shot out of her sleeves, ripping through the material. The swords glinted in the sunlight and Claire's stone hard face reflected on the blade but Tadase remained unfazed. He only smiled. He only pressed the dagger further onto Ikuto's throat. Ikuto had a hard time breathing considering that he had a dagger on his throat and the girl trying to save him could possibly kill him if she could kill the man strangling him.

Claire seemed to disappear for a moment and re-appeared behind Tadase, her sword against his throat.

"_Drop the dagger or I'll kill you." _Claire threatened yet Tadase seemed as calm as ever_._ Amu tried to figure out what Tadase was up to. He had a shiny but deadly sword at his throat and he was _smiling_. What kind of logic was that? But, he was the sadist type of person so you could really expect anything from him. Amu heard a rustle of leaves behind her. Her head whipped around and she saw two soldiers lunge at her. She quickly side-stepped out of the way and the soldiers did a face plant.

"Ow~" They both moaned. There go Tadase's so called 'flawless' soldiers. When Amu saw the soldiers faces, she felt disappointment. She thought it might have been Nadeshiko or Yaya but her guess was wrong. She hadn't even seen these people before. Quickly, both soldiers got up and before you could even blink, they both grabbed her hands and put them behind her back. Her eyes widened.

"_You dirty little scum! This was a setup!" _Tadase smirked.

Amu stood there, helpless. There, in front of her, a death scenario was happening and all she could do was just stand there. Amu felt rage build up inside of her. She felt her hands become hot. In fact, her whole body felt warm. Just when Amu felt like she would collapse from the intense heat, something she didn't suspect happened. The heat suddenly disappeared and Amu collapsed to the ground but she pushed herself up with her hands. Her face was covered in sweat but no one was paying attention to her. Yet.

Amu stared at her hands in surprise. Swords poked out of her sleeves. They were identical to Claire's. Amu pushed her surprise out of the way for now and focused on what was important. She quickly got up and ran over to Tadase. She put the tip of her sword at Tadase's chest, where his heart was. Tadase looked at Amu in disbelief.

_Guess he thought I wouldn't be much of a hindrance. _Amu thought to herself.

"Well you thought wrong." Amu said quietly. Claire smirked at me. It seemed like she could read her thoughts by the way she was looking at her but that was absurd. Amu focused her attention back on Tadase.

"Let go of them." Tadase regained his composure.

"And if I don't?" He spat back.

"First of all, gross," Amu said while wiping away the spit on my eye with my free hand "and second of all, if you don't, I'll kill you."

"But I have the upper hand. My henchmen are trained while you only have one other that knows how to fight. Just one word from me and your little friends go Bye bye." Amu looked back and forth from Ikuto to Claire then finally to Tadase.

"If I give you what you want, will you release those two?" Tadase reconsidered.

"Fine. I want you to come back with me and you must obey whatever I command you to do."

"Agreed. Now let them go." Amu ushered him quickly. Tadase raised his hand to release Ikuto but he only jabbed him in the back of the neck and he went unconscious. One of the soldiers did the same to Claire and she was down for the count. Now it was only Amu that was left standing.

"You liar!" Amu lunged at Tadase but the other soldier had hit her in the neck. She fell to the ground, stars in her eyes. Just before she lost consciousness, she heard that same line again.

"Promises are meant to be broken, Amu." Tadase said. Then, Amu blacked out.

* * *

Claire woke up and found herself in a room with her hands tied behind her back. In the far corner of the room, Amu was in the same position she was in but she was unconscious at the moment. Claire looked around the room but she didn't see Ikuto anywhere. Where did they put him?

Claire looked at the door that had a window and saw guards outside, well, guarding the door. Guess the obvious escape was opted out.

Suddenly, Claire felt the urge to claw at something. Anything. She closed her eyes and tried to suppress the feeling. She thrashed her hands around to try to get her hands free but swords shot out of her sleeves. She tried to cut the bonds but they just wouldn't cut. The feeling started to dissipate and Claire relaxed. She sighed. She had trained herself to try to block out that feeling and most of the time it worked but at times, the impulse would be too strong and she would lash out at everything near her.

Claire saw movement on the other side of the corner and found out that Amu had finally awakened. She blinked a few times and then looked around the place. When she noticed Claire in the corner staring at her, Amu just stared back. After a moment of silence, Claire said "Your eyes are red."

"What?" Amu asked.

"Like I said, your eyes are red."

"That's strange. Usually I would have this intent to kill afterwards," Amu started.

"You do but apparently, I only have that now. Seems like you just get red eyes as a side affect from now on." Claire said but Amu thought she heard a bit of jealousy in her voice but her face showed no sign of it so she removed that thought from her head.

"So where are we right now?" Amu asked, trying to change the topic.

"I think we're in an empty storage room in the military base that we used to train at." Claire stared out the tiny window on the door.

"We'll need a plan. How about when the guards come in, you go tell them you need to, go to the washroom or something,-"

"Woah! But that's so embarrassing!" said Amu.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Claire questioned.

"Yes." Amu said sheepishly.

"As I was saying, after they untie you, knock them out and take off my bonds and then we can go and look for Iku-" Suddenly, the guards kicked the door open. Claire and Amu's head turned towards the door.

"No talking allowed! Or I will have to gag you both." Amu looked back at Claire nervously without moving her head and she saw Claire nod at her. Amu sighed. Here goes nothing.

"Um,-" Amu tried to say but the soldier just pointed his gun at her.

"No talking!"

"But I need to go to the washroom." Amu pleaded. The two soldiers looked at each other, surprised but untied Amu's bonds.

"Keep an eye on her." The soldier said to the other. He nodded but before they could avert their attention back to Amu, she summoned a taser and shocked both of them. The soldiers limp bodies fell to the ground. Then, Amu summoned her swords and sliced open the bonds.

"Guess you can only get them off if you're not the one bound." Claire muttered to herself.

"Okay, lets go quickly before those limping bodies come and kill us."

* * *

Claire and Amu ran aimlessly through hallways. Some they remembered but some they didn't even know they existed. So far, they hadn't been seen yet which was a relief but they were running out of time. Eventually, someone would find them and if they hadn't found Ikuto by then, well, they didn't really want to think about what would happen after. When Claire turned the next corner, she stopped dead in her tracks. Amu accidently ran right into her back and rubbed her now aching nose.

"What was that for-" Amu told Claire but she saw the face Claire had on and she looked angry. Amu looked ahead of Claire and she understood why she looked so distraught. Tadase had his arms crossed, that stupid smirk on his face and had a bunch of soldiers behind him. Amu heard footsteps from behind and soldiers from all directions cornered them. Two soldiers put those same bonds that didn't allow Claire and Amu to use their weapons on them again. Claire and Amu tried to get away but the soldiers had outnumbered them and restrained them in no time.

"How did you find us?" Claire asked.

"Camera's" Tadase pointed toward one in the corner of the walls. Claire 'tsked'. She forgot about the camera's.

"And here I thought you guys had lousy security." Amu mumbled to herself.

* * *

Tadase's soldiers dragged Claire and Amu to a huge laboratory where they could clearly see that they were experimenting with weapons. They both shuddered. At the corner of her eye, Amu caught a glimpse of blue hair.

"Ikuto!" Amu called out. Claire's head turned toward the direction Amu was yelling to and sure enough, Ikuto was strapped onto a board like a lab rat.

"What have you done to him?" Claire yelled at Tadase.

"Oh nothing really. Just trying to put some info he needs to know about weaponry into his head so he can work here." Tadase gestured towards the laboratory.

"What? You didn't need him before! Why now?" Amu looked at Claire and Tadase, perplexed. What was she talking about?

"I need more people to speed up the process. I'm working on a new weapon and the process is going to slowly. I need the weapon as soon as possible."

"Then why take us here? You know we're looking for him!"

"That's why I need your help. Your friend over there is a little reluctant on helping me." Tadase said.

"Wha-" Amu said but the soldiers just dragged them towards a table simlar to Ikuto's and strapped them on tightly so they couldn't escape. Two ladies in lab coats came and placed a microchip on their forhead. At first, Claire and Amu both tried to escape but they calmed down afterwards. Their pupils disappeared and their eyes they looked like they were in a trance. He snapped his fingers. Both Claire and Amu broke from the restraints and sat up. Tadase smiled wickedly.

"Now lets go teach our friend a little lesson shall we?"

* * *

**Well? Whadya think? I'd be happy if you reviewed =3 The magic button is just below~**


	9. Chapter 9

'**Ello peoplez~ Sorry about the grammar and spelling mistakes for the previous chapters. Just read some of them over briefly and their were a lot of mistakes =.= I'll try to fix them in this chapter but there's no guarantee that I will get all of 'em =S Well, hope you enjoy~**

* * *

"Now lets go teach our friend a little lesson shall we?"

* * *

**~Amu~**

No, no, no, no, no! This could not be happening! I tried to stop myself from taking another step but was only able to manage to make me stop for about a second. I tried again and again to no avail. I had to admit that this was a good idea on Tadase's part but it was starting to freak me out how I could see what I was doing but couldn't control anything.

'_You're not the only one'. _Someone regarded snidely. Claire! Wait, how did she do that?

'_You're doing it right now. Whatever you're thinking about, I can sort of see it or hear it in my head.'_

'Really? What am I thinking about now?'

'_You're- EW! Gross! Bleh!' _I felt myself giggle on the inside so I ended up fidgeting on the outside. Tadase took a side glance at us but our faces remained emotionless.

'Sorry, back to the original point. What are we going to do in this situation? We can't even control what we're doing!"

'_Calm down. I'm trying to think.' _While we were talking to each other telepathically, Tadase had led us to Ikuto. Me and Claire could do nothing but just stare back. Tadase snapped his fingers and our swords snapped out in an instant. I felt like I was just pushed in the back hard and just barely caught myself before I fell. What the hell was that? Ikuto's eyes widened as he watched helplessly at us. I tried to tell Ikuto that everything was going to be alright. There was no need to worry. I think he got the message because he started to bite on his lip, his eyes knitted together tightly. Concern for us was written all over his face. I was starting to worry what Tadase was going to do when he suddenly lifted his arm. My arm mimicked his movements and suddenly, the tip of our swords were pointing at our hearts.

'_Holy-!' _Out of the corner of my eye, I saw sweat beading our of Claire's forehead. I couldn't exactly blame her. I saw her hand tremble a little and I was guessing that she was trying to resist but she didn't progress much. We were in a tight bind.

"Now, will you willingly come and help us or will a blood have to spill because of you?" Tadase asked sweetly but Tadase wasn't one to talk like that so it sent a chill down my back. Ikuto looked at Claire and me and he immediately decided.

"Fine." He said. This couldn't be happening. No way was I going to let Ikuto work in this hell hole. I wasn't going to let him go through what Claire and I did.. I could feel the same churning emotions coming from Claire. Looks like we were all on the same page here. I tried to put my hand down and away from my heart as Tadase inched closer to Ikuto by the second. I tried my hardest to break away and cut Tadase up into pieces but my hand only slightly trembled. Tadase's hand also started to shake a little when he whipped his head around and glared menacingly at us.

'_That's it! We're also connected to him! If he planned on hurting us, he would also be hurting himself. It must also work the other way around!' _Realization dawned to me. How could I not have noticed that before? Not long after, Claire and I summoned every ounce of strength we had left and we both pushed the swords further into our chests. Of course it hurt but we'd worry about that later. Tadase had already released Ikuto when he noticed a sudden pain in his chest. He looked back at us and his eyes widened. I would too if I saw two people look like they were committing suicide. We both dragged the sword further into our chest and Tadase grimaced. A gash opened up and I felt something sizzle on my head. I could finally feel my hands again. I opened and closed my hand over and over.

Then I looked up at Tadase and a smile spread across my face. I was guessing that Claire looked exactly like what I did because I could feel an urge to punch him as many times as possible coming from her. We both lunged at him at the same time and all chaos broke loose.

**~Claire~**

Everything was a blur. All I could really remember was that after we went for Tadase, all his soldiers ganged up on us and me and Amu started to throw punches and kicks at random places. I let out a kick and heard a groan from somewhere. I felt a tinge of happiness spark in me but that only fueled my anger. It wasn't fair. How come we of all the people in the world have to go through this? We could all be living normal lives if it wasn't for Tadase. _Tadase. _My anger increased but it was now directed towards Tadase. I wanted to get to Tadase and rip his head out for doing what he did to us and Ikuto.

'Calm down Claire. We should find a way to get Ikuto out first then deal with ripping Tadase's head out later.' I almost forgot. In the midst of the battle lust surging through me, there was only one reason for us to come here and that was to get Ikuto out of here. I saw Tadase running away in the back and swore under my breath. Coward.

'_Alright. I'll hold them off while you get him out of here. I'll meet up with you guys at his house.' _There was a moment of silence when Amu didn't answer. I stole a glance at her and she looked pained at the thought.

'You mean…'

'_Yea, you know what I'm talking about. _That _house.' _Amu bit her lip but I just barely noticed her nod her head. She made her way through the mob of soldiers and killed anybody that got in her way. That seemed to make the other soldiers back up a little. Guess they hadn't been taught how to avoid swords. Tough luck for them. I summoned a large scythe and swung it horizontally with as much force as I could. That knocked quarter of the soldiers to the wall and dragging ones behind them with them. I swung it again and it sliced off several bodies. Half of the soldiers retreated but the other half stood their ground.

'_Tch. This is gonna be fun.' _I had a feeling that Amu was also smiling like I was.

'Tell me about it.'

**~Amu~**

I finally caught sight of Ikuto and saw him fighting off his own army of soldiers trying to restrain him again. I sliced off the soldiers hands and blood spilled everywhere. He yelled in pain. I grabbed Ikuto's hand and bolted for the back exit.

'Claire! I got him. Lets go!' Claire didn't waste a second and followed in pursuit. Two guys saw what we were going to do and they fired their guns at us. Where they got those guns, who knows? I just wanted to get the hell outta here. The bullets just landed in front of us by a centimeter but we kept on moving. The other soldiers did the same thing and fired at us. Me and Claire turned our swords into shields and covered Ikuto.

"You know, I feel insulted coming from a guys perspective." Claire and I both stared at Ikuto, wondering how the hell he can make a joke at this kind of situation but he continued.

"Usually, it's supposed to be the guy rescuing the girl or girls in this case but he ends up being rescued." He shakes his head in exasperation.

"Hey!" We both yelled at him.

"Do you want to be saved?" I asked him.

"_Just because that's a cliché thing and it makes the story all the more interesting, it sounds so sexist coming from you." _I let out a breath. Looks like things are still the same as always but I couldn't help but let out a smile. Who knew things would turn out this way?

'_Don't let your hopes get the best of you.' _I rolled my eyes when I saw Claire giving me a meaningful look.

'Just had to spoil the moment didn't you?' A small smile was adorned onto her face. Man, we were smiling a lot in a situation like this.

'_Guess that's my new job, huh?' _We both broke out into a small laughing fit. Ikuto lookedback in forth between us.

"Am I missing something? You guys seem to be getting along well, which I happy about of course but what gives?" Claire and I looked at each other, seeming that we already know how to answer that question without having to tell each other anything. We both put a finger on our lips and say, "It's a secret." And we both start laughing again. Hopefully there was no one still on our tail because for some reason, I really wanted this moment to last.

But of course, things can never last for us with lives like ours.

* * *

Even though Claire and I have seen Ikuto's house before, we still couldn't help but gawk at it. It was just that big. We walked up to the front door and kicked it down.

"Uh, I prefer you don't kick down the door." We both shrug at him.

"Considering you don't have a key to your own home, this is the quickest way to get in."

"My home? Since when was this my house?" Ikuto had a perplexed face on but that face eventually turned into a pained one. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"I think I'm getting a headache. Can we sit down for a while?" We steered ourselves to the living room and plop down onto the couch.

"Ah~ So comfy." Ikuto cooed. He slung an arm on the edge of the sofa and seemed to go to sleep immediately. Claire's expression changed to a serious one right after he fell asleep.

"_So, what do we do now?"_

"Honestly, I haven't got a clue. But maybe we should figure out some basics like how we actually escaped out of there."

"_Well, it seemed like Tadase was somehow connected to the both of us but we can't seem to hear what he's thinking. We're just connected physically."_

"Well, with a pea sized brain like his, I'm pretty sure that genius idea came from one of his scientists."

Claire let out a laugh. _"Yeah, I'm guessing we're now connected through some sort of link. We can hear each others thoughts. Maybe it's because of the microchip he planted on our foreheads."_ I touched my forehead lightly. That explanation would explain a lot. Even though we figured out most of the things going on, what were we supposed to do now?

"_Lets just go to sleep for now and worry about what happens to us later. We could use some. We look like… you know." _Claire gestured at both of us. I walked to a mirror that hung on a wall nearby and let out a shocked gasp. Wow, I looked-

"_Horrible, right?" _

All I could do was stifle a nod. Claire and I both looked back at Ikuto and decided to bring him to a bedroom instead of hanging on the edge of the couch. We both dragged his sleeping body to a bedroom and kicked the door open.

"We are seriously going to need to replace some doors around here." I mumbled to myself. Claire smiled at my comment. We hulled him onto the bed and collapsed in exhaustion.

"_Well, I don't know about you but I'm going to sleep now. Night." _Claire walked up to the bed and pulled the covers over her. She hugged the sleeping Ikuto and got comfy.

"Woah there. What do you think he's think when he wakes up?"

Claire yawned and mumbled _"Who cares? I just wanna sleep…" _And she fell asleep. Oh well. I didn't have the energy to go find another bedroom so I slept on the other side of Ikuto and cuddled into him and soon enough, I was fast asleep as well.

**~Tadase~**

I looked at the monitor that luminated in the dark room. It showed the mansion Claire and Amu were staying at the moment.

"Just you wait. I'll back for you two and when I do, you'll never be free ever again.

* * *

**Ta-Da~ Yea, that's about it o.o Errrrrrrr hope you enjoyed it? =D Would be totally happy if you reviewed X3**


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